The Name of Red
Beena Khan
Publication date: May 15th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Romance
Two strangers on the same path.
Survivors. Companions.
They will be each other’s salvation.On a rainy, winter night, a mysterious woman in a red dress seeking shelter comes inside the restaurant Kabir was busy working in —primarily the bar— and night after night, drink after drink, she comes back to the same spot. That is where he sees her for the first time.
Hundreds of patrons around her try to speak with her daily, but she dismisses them. It appears she wants to remain in a blissful peace alone with her booze and books. After seeing the mysterious woman reading a book, and because of his shy nature, Kabir gains entrance into her life by anonymously leaving books with notes for her.
The Name of Red is the story of two strangers, two different personalities who meet on a winter, rainy night who challenge each other. They have a connection which blossoms into a friendship due to their fondness of books. But they both have secrets that can bind them together or threaten their newfound relationship forever.
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords
Author Bio:
Beena Khan lives in a suburb in Queens, New York in her apartment. She’s’s a Literary Fiction Novelist and Poetess. She is 27 years old and from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. She’s an immigrant who moved to New York when she was five years old. She currently holds a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology from Cuny School of Professional Sciences. She enjoys reading, writing, and netflixing.
The Name of Red is her debut novel.
Her website is www.beenakhan.com.
Sign up for her newsletter below where you can subscribe for book news, writing tips, and exclusive content such as, upcoming releases, cover reveals, ARCS, giveaways, and book trailers!
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter
My Review
I had so many emotions throughout this book. At first, I thought it was going to be a little boring, given that the setting and characters were kind of basic and static. However, when I had gotten to the middle of the book and started to see the characters as flawed, human beings, that was when I got into it. Especially the relationships between them, especially leads Kabir and Elif. Both of them have dealt with loss, pain, trauma, grief and fear of opening up again after huge losses. They were both stable and unstable for each other, which is why they were perfect for each other. Everytime I thought Elif was being a coldhearted b.i.t.c.h. to Kabir and his friends, it was justified when I heard her full story. I still wished she didn’t lead Kabir on, but again she was dealing with a death that afterward, held her back from opening up to love again. While Elif was confident and was a bit of a party animal, Kabir was such a softie, a sweetheart, always second-guessing himself and his decisions when it came to his feelings and emotions. We hardly get to read about soft young men in New Adult (NA) books, so it was refreshing.
The side characters were a lot of fun, too. Aryan, Nadia, and even Samar were good comic reliefs for the drama and angst between Kabir and Elif. It’s a shame we didn’t get to read more backstory on Nadia, but since there is a duet novel after this one, I suppose there is more to Nadia there. Aryan had a no-nonsense attitude that had surprising moments for me, especially when he’d read Elif when she was leading people on with her mysterious ways.
Beena Khan’s writing was simplistic and easy to get through. Since there wasn’t much to go on outside of Kabir and Aryan’s bar in which Elif visited almost every day, I had to rely on character growth and arcs. The best part of the setting descriptions was Kabir’s huge library; both he and Elif met through their love of reading, which was adorable. It was enjoyable to see some memorable book titles they had read together and would discuss.
One of the things I loved was that this was an #ownvoices novel, given the South Asian author, characters, and cultural aspects. I had never read a South Asian book before, so the references were entertaining and inspiring. A Definitions page is in the back of the book, so I kept flipping back and forth while reading. It was fun to read in a different language and understand where everyone’s names meant.
Overall, The Name of Red was very good, deep, heartbreaking, funny, romantic, tragic story about best friends to lovers and the hope of moving on.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Favorite Quotes:
Kabir and Elif’s new relationship progressed over the week, and it slowly blossomed into a friendship.
Alcohol. The elixir of her life. The strong tonic was the only cure to her life.
Her darkness often came in protective arms, holding him closer until the promised dawn.
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
